On
Shook Up Smith
gives us eleven songs, of which five are originals.It seems Bennie has been around the
blues scene forever, and he has, always as
the sideman.Many fans, including yours truly welcome this
solo album with much mouth watering anticipation.Smith's last album was The
Urban Soul of Bennie Smith released
in the early 1990's.

Smith
credits his style from the likes of Gatemouth
Brown, Matt "Guitar" Murphy, Ace Wallace and
B.B. King (who he played with 1959 or 1960).

Listen
To My Heart Sing - I really liked this track,
not a lot of instrument but the vocals reaped
of feeling.chicka chicka boom boom boom.

Mystery
Train - yea you know the song, but you never
heard a guitar solo like before.

Fancy
- another swingin' blues instrumental head
bobbin tune with lots of electric guitar
(note that this a Bennie Smith original,
and it's great).

Drown
In My Own Tears - At the beginning of this
song I thought I was hearing "Oh Say Can
You See" which then turned bluesy, there
was a tasteful small amount of horn accompaniment,
then after a huge musical intro the vocals
were added and brought it home.This song goes over eight minutes.Can I have an Amen.

Shook
Up - I am at a bit of a shortage of words
to describe this song.Let me start by saying I loved it, this
song was different than the others, the
vocals were the main attraction, it had
a little harmonica.Buy the CD see if you can describe
it better.

I'm
Tore Up -an Ike Turner song, and a darn good
cover, the guitar solo was better than original.